What's in a Name?
by Joy Booth
Summary: After TRACKS Skye is back on the bus, but having a bit of trouble returning to normal.


**A/N: So from the preview I thought it was weird that they were standing outside her sealed off room. I wondered if SHIELD knowing she is a 084 might call for special protocol, so here we are. Also I am assuming for this story that 084 means alien. Thanks, please review. **

He spent two weeks without her. Two weeks of cases where no one called him a robot and everyone followed orders. Two weeks of his workout not being interrupted by whining. Two weeks of playing chess with Simmons, and poker with Fitz. Two weeks of not having to deal with taunting and teasing at every turn, and he hated every minute of it.

He thought of her every time he moved her cocoa puffs to get to his shredded wheat. He paused a time every time he passed her closed door. His jaw tightened every time Fitz took two hours to do something that would have taken Skye two minutes. He would never admit it, but he missed her.

So the day that Agent Hand delivered Skye to them, he could admit that he was happy to see her. At least, he could admit it to himself. To everyone else, it appeared that he had greeted her with a firm nod and a "Good to have you back, Rookie."

The first few days were bumpy. Skye was still recovering, so she couldn't join him for training. Instead she spent every minute of the day either in the lab with FitzSimmons, following Coulson around, or sitting with him reading case reports and mission profiles.

But even as things were getting back to normal, Ward noticed that some things were different. For one thing, he noticed that she was never alone. She would follow around whoever she was with until she found someone else to follow. Then, when she was cleared for light training, he noticed that she wasn't complaining about things as much. But the thing that bothered him the most, was the way she said his name.

"Yes, Agent Ward,"

"Ok, Ward,"

"Hey Ward, do you mind if I sit with you?"

Every time she said his actual name instead of some silly nickname, his heart sank a little. Someone or something had broken his rookie, and it made his blood boil just thinking about it. So it shouldn't have really surprised him that he finally cracked. It was four weeks after she had come home, and they were in the loading bay working on self-defense.

"Okay, so now I want you to put your arm up and use your elbow to break the hold," he explained, pinning her against the wall with his hands gently on her neck. She broke free exactly as he had instructed, but he felt disappointed for some reason.

"Again, this time I am really going to try to keep a hold of you," he warned, pinning her against the wall again.

"Okay, Ward," she replied, sadness drifting through her eyes, before she focused on the task at hand. She was able to escape, but she didn't dance around like she would have two months ago. She just stood there waiting for the next instructions, and something in him broke.

"What happened while you were gone?" he asked.

"I was quarantined, Ward. Nothing happened, I was just locked in a bubble for two weeks while they decided if I was of more use in the field, or being studied in a lab," she shrugged. Ward flinched almost invisibly at the mention of her being a used as a lab rat.

"Something happened," he insisted.

"It was nothing, Ward," she shrugged again, but he grab her shoulders giving her a little shake.

"I want to know what happened, Skye. I need you to tell me what changed," he looked her in the eyes and for the first time since the day they met she saw desperation.

"You're not a robot," she said sadly.

He looked confused for a moment, but then she continued.

"I was wrong to have teased you like I did before the ssh-shoo-ting. From the first day, you always looked out for me, not because it was the mission, but because you are a good person, Ward. Those people, at the hub, they never saw me as more than a science project. The two weeks that I was there no one said a word to me. They came twice a day in to set down a tray, checked my stitches, but they never once said a word. Even when you hated me, you still trained me. You still treated me like a person. Even now that you all know what I am, you never treat me differently," she explained.

He couldn't help it, he did the stupidest (or maybe smartest) thing he could have done. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. He felt her shoulders shake, as silent tears soaked his shirt, but all he could do was hold her. There were no words for the heartache he felt. The thought of her so totally alone in the universe was unbearable.

"Just because I'm not a robot doesn't mean you have to be one, Marvin," he tried to do what she would have done, and lighten the mood with a joke.

She sniffled, but her lips quirked up into a tiny smile. "You made a joke," she sniffed, her hands coming up to wipe her eyes.

"I am a man of many skills," he shrugged, taking a step back out of her personal space.

"You are a man of many drills maybe," she joked in return.

"Why thank you for reminding me my dear Wookie, it is time to work on you hook/jab combo," he grinned manically. She rolled her eyes.

"His name is Chewie, wookie is a race," she tried to explain.

"Less talking more punching," he replied, ducking behind the bag as her left hook nearly connected with his head.

"Whatever you say, Coach," she replied, happily jabbing the heavy bag. Ward tried to hide his smile, but from where Coulson stood on the catwalk, he knew it was only a matter of time before the specialist was head over heels for his Rookie.


End file.
